Sterilized medicinal candle and method of making same.



H. 0. BERG.

STERILI ZED MEDICI NAL CANDLE AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME.

m wsaq APPLICATION FILED MAR. 29, 1-918.

Patented Dec. 31, 1918.

3mm wtoz tially of mixtures of and other material, whlch' mixtures maybe flame of the-candle,; and the melted material thereby applied paperor other similar paper,

the candles after atmosphere of a bactericidal Toall whom it mayconcern:

Same, of which the following is a specifiwhich such application mirrnnsnares raannr ora ion- I nanr o. rune, or rears, rnancn.

s'rnniiiiznn mnnicinai. o'anniin Ann ivinrrieio or rename satin.

Application filed march aaisna.

Be it known that LYHA'RT OI BERG, a citizen of the United States,residing at Paris,

Republic ofFrance, have invented certain new and useful Improvements insterilized Medicinal Candles and Methods of Making cation.

The present invention relates to protecting candles made of curative ormedic nal preparations, and has'reference in particular to candles madeof orconsisting essenparafiinous material readily melted, by the theliving body, to is desired, for producing curative or similar efiects.

It has recently been proposed to make to desired portions of candles ofam'brine and similarmaterial,

which candles may be wrapped in paraflined or similar material beingheated, either before or at the time of molding, to a temperaturesufficient to sterilize the said material. One objection to wrappingcandles of this "character in paper is that during the wrappingoperation, the candles mayacquire bacteria from the hands of theoperator, or from the tables or benches upon which such workis done, orin handling the candles be tween the molding operation and thesubsequent wrapping operation.

In accordance with the present invention,

' being" made, are first subjected to an gas or vapor, at a temperaturesufficiently 'low not to produce any melting of the candle coat thecandles material, and to thereafter ofwhich the surface has been sosterilized,

with a. film of material which is impervious to bacteria, solutions ofwaxes,resins,' cellulose esters and the like in volatile solvents Ireferred to.

rooini temperature.

the ambrine Specification of Letters Patent. Pmtgntcgdl DQQB, 31 191$,

Serial No. 225,521.

the sterilization with formaldehyde gas, it is not necessary to employheat, the gas being an activegrmicidal agent at ordinary The candles maybe dipped into, or otherwise coated with. a solution of shellac inalcohol (grain alcohol, wood alcohol, denatured alcohol or other dry atordinary room temperature.

In place of the formaldehyde gas, other gases havingbactericidal'properties can be used, and especially such as' are activeat ordinary room temperature. In place of the alcoholic solution ofshellacfsolutions of various Waxes, resins or cellulose esters, such ascellulose. acetate may be employed, or in other cases solut-ions o'fnitro-cellulose can be used, to which solutions, suitable materials for.reducing the inflammability may be added.

In theburning of candles such as de scr1bed the thin coating of materialburns away at about'the same rate as the candle itself, and 1n'such'burning any bacteria present upon such coating will be destroyedby' the heat. r g

It will be obvious that the solvent employed 1n the coating composition.or lvar- ,nish should be one which does not injuri ously affect thecomposition of which the candle'is made, and for this reason, vo la tilesolvents of the coating composition, wlnch are-not solvents of paraflinand simi- -lar material should preferably be used.

In the accompanying: drawing 1 have shown a candle after treatment inaccordance with the present lnvention. In said suitable' solvent). andare then allowed to drawings, Figure lshows a central section,

lengthwise of the candle, and Fig. 2, a sec tion at right angles to theplane of Fig. 1. In said drawings, a is a candle having a wick b.- Thiscandle, after the sterilizing operation is coated with a layer ,0, ofcoating composition, 6. one, of the varnishes above The thickness of thecoating is greatly exaggerated in the drawing. a

From the above description it will be understood that the application ofthe formaldehyde or similar gas or vapor may be made after all of thehandling of r the candles which maybe necessary or desirable prior tothe coating operation, and that there will be no handling or mechanicalworking ofthe candles between the sterilizing of the surface and thecoatingof this surface with varnish of any suitable-kind. The treatmentof the candles with formaldehyde or'equivalent material produces theeffect of first rendering the surface of said candle sterile or aseptic.v The invention is applicable not only to candles made of ambrine, butto candles or other structures "made from a material -of which the baseis parafiin or other suitable materiahto which additions of varioussub-1 -stances hav ng curative or pharmaceutical properties, or ofsubstances capable of increasing the tenacity of thefilm or layer of themassapplied to the living body, or for improving the physicalcharacteristics of such layer or film, have been made.

In the original material, at the time of making candles therefrom,'thematerial is heated sufiiciently to sterilize the same, but in suchhandling as is necessary or incident to the subsequent operations ofwrapping and the like, the surfaces of the candle are liable to pick upbacteria from the hands of the operatives, and it is to destroysuchbacteria that the preliminary bactericidal treat ment is given,audit is not necessary that the said treatment should extend throughoutthe body of such candles, the surface being entirely suiiicient.

What is claimed is: 1. The herein described process of treating candlescomposed of pharmaceutical meltable preparations, which comprisessubjectingsuch candles first to a bactericidal atmosphere for asufiicientlength of time to render the surface of the candle aseptic,and thereafter coating the so treated candles with a coating compositionimpervious to ing candles composed of pharmaceutical material, the stepwhich comprises coating a candle of which the surface is sterilized,with a varnish, and drying the varnish to produce an impervious film,whereby the candle is rendered aseptic.

4:. A candle composed of'a sterilized mixture of paraffin and othermaterial blending therewith, which mixture is capable of melting ata-temperature' sufliciently low to permit application of the moltenmaterial to the living body without injury thereto, coated with a filmof dried varnish impervious to bacteria. I

, In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

- HART O. BERG.

